Saturday, April 11, 2015

My 800th post????

Yeah, I can't believe it either....

Latest musical discoveries -- all thanks to KPLU-FM's "All Blues" program, every Saturday and Sunday from 6 p.m. to midnight Pacific Time, and streaming at kplu.org. Especially good stuff is marked with a *: I'm still drawn most to the funny stuff, big dramatic productions, and anything with a good riff I can hum or whistle along with.... Lyrics I can screech along with are good, too....
Alabama Shakes -- *You Ain't Alone. (Brittany Howard's singing is amazing. This hits HARD, like some great lost '60s R&B track.)
Rhiannon Giddens -- Black is the Color.
Danielle Nicole -- *You Only Need Me When You're Down.
Stacey Jones -- *Can't Do Nothing Right.
Chris Joyner -- *Hallelujah.
Irma Thomas, Tracey Nelson and Marcia Ball -- *Sing It.
Buddy Guy -- *Meet Me in Chicago. (Buddy burns up the guitar on this.)
Joe Bonnamassa -- Jelly Roll Baker. (Silly song, but I like the way he sings it. The guitar's pretty good, too.)
Ann Peebles -- *Read Me My Rights. (Why wasn't this a hit?)
Ronnie Earl -- *Eddie's Gospel Groove. (You will swear that this is some forgotten early-'70s Santana jam.)
Lyle Lovett -- *She's No Lady, *My Baby Don't Tolerate.
Carla Thomas -- *B-A-B-Y.
Joan Osborne -- *Shake Your Hips. (Another silly song, but I like the way she sings it -- and her backing band is great, once they stretch out with the tune.)
Johnny A -- *Drinkin' Rye. (Not as amazing as his "Wichita Lineman," but nice.)
J.B. Lenoir -- Voodoo Music.

* Lawrence Gonzales: DEEP SURVIVAL (2003) -- This was in the Adventure/Travel section of my favorite local used bookstore, Book 'Em in Port Orchard, Wash. -- but it's not really travel writing. Gonzales spent years interviewing survivors of disasters to see what got them through it -- how they lived while others around them died. He interviews people who fell out of airplanes, fell off of mountains, people lost in the mountains for days, 911 survivors, people who were adrift at sea for weeks, pilots, astronauts, and more -- and comes up with some theories about things they all did that helped them survive.
Gonzales was started on this project by his father -- who was shot down over Germany during World War II, fell 21,000 feet inside the cockpit of his bomber and survived the crash, was held in a German POW camp ... then went on to earn a PhD and become a microbiologist.
Some of the folks Gonzales writes about are friends who were killed in plane crashes ... plane trips he said "No" to at the last minute.
It's weird, but I laughed all through this book. Gonzales has a lot of Attitude as a writer, and some of these stories ARE funny. And others will rip your heart right out. Still others will make you wonder how dumb people can be -- and just how much abuse the human body can put up with and still survive.
I tried to read Gonzales' rock&roll novel JAMBEAUX a few years back, and couldn't get through it. DEEP SURVIVAL is way better -- it's the best thing I've read in months. See if you can find it.

Only one complaint about Robert Christgau's memoir GOING INTO THE CITY that I raved about last time -- I propped it open so I could eat lunch and keep reading ... and the book's back broke and the pages started to fall out. I paid $30 for THIS?

2 comments:

Hey, congratulations! 800 posts on a blog is a LOT. I understand it's hard to stop with all the attention having a blog brings you, but I know that if I ever hit 800 posts I'll be pretty surprised! Keep up the great work!

Thanks, 2. Actually, I was considering backing away from this stuff for awhile ... then when I checked in tonight, I noticed this post got 61 "hits" in the last week, the most I've had for quite awhile ... so I'll probably be posting now and then, though I now only have Internet access at work....BTW, that 800 posts includes 225 I did in my first NINE MONTHS on-line at an old dead website that I abandoned due to ongoing technical problems back in 2009. All these numbers just boggle me -- I can't believe I've written this much.You're doing a great job, too -- love your enthusiasm. I've lost a lot of mine, but I'm still here....

Now back on Facebook!

TAD is now at tracy.deaton.14 on Facebook. I'll be posting Political and Silly stuff over there when I'm not busy promoting this blog. Check me out there if you're bored....

HEY, BUY MY BOOKS!

* WHAT HE MEANT: A TRIBUTE TO WRITER DON VINCENT.

* GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC! -- a record-store memoir.

* RECORD STORE DAZE -- a playlist/companion to GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC!

* THE CONFESSOR: 20 YEARS IN THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS.

* THE GAS NAZI!: TEN YEARS IN A CONVENIENCE STORE.

All available for $2.99 at Amazon.com's Kindle Store.

And:

* THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE: A NEWSPAPER NOVEL, $3.99 at the Kindle Store.

AND COMING SOON:

* BROTHERS: GROWING UP FAST IN IDAHO.

* LISTEN TO THIS!: A GUIDE TO STRANGE MUSIC.

TAD's fave music-related non-fiction

BEFORE I GET OLD: THE STORY OF THE WHO -- Dave Marsh

BILLBOARD'S TOP POP SINGLES -- Joel Whitburn

CHRISTGAU'S CONSUMER GUIDE: THE '80s -- Robert Christgau

CHRISTGAU'S RECORD GUIDE: THE '70s -- Robert Christgau

ENGLAND'S DREAMING -- Jon Savage

IN THE COURT OF KING CRIMSON -- Sid Smith

King Crimson diary & scrapbooks -- compiled by Robert Fripp

LOOK! LISTEN! VIBRATE! SMILE! -- compiled by Dominic Priore

MAINLINES, BLOOD FEASTS AND BAD TASTE -- Lester Bangs

PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS AND CARBURETOR DUNG -- Lester Bangs

REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD -- Ian McDonald

ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE: THE UNCENSORED HISTORY -- Robert Draper

SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS -- Nicholas Schaffner

THE ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO ROCK

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Bill Bruford

THE BEACH BOYS -- Byron Preiss

THE BEACH BOYS AND THE CALIFORNIA MYTH -- David Leaf

THE HEART OF ROCK AND SOUL -- Dave Marsh

THE LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY -- Richard DiLello

THE PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ -- Richard Cook and Brian Morton

THE PENGUIN GUIDE TO POPULAR MUSIC -- edited by Donald Clarke

THE ROLLING STONE RECORD GUIDE -- edited by Dave Marsh & John Swenson

THE ROLLING STONE RECORD REVIEW VOLUME II

WALK AWAY RENE -- Hipgnosis/Storm Thorgerson

TAD's fave posts -- look 'em up!

"Back on the Chain Gang"

"If We Were Wise"

2 months on Match.com!

2 years in Turkey!

A look back at SMiLE

A really rude habit....

All SMiLEs

Boycott Black Friday!

Confessions of an Amazon.com addict

Dating After 50, Parts 1&2

Facing Dr. Pagan

First Girl I Loved

Guaranteed Great Music!

Musicmagic

My old Idaho home....

The best prog band ever?

The Boogie Monster and other adventures

The Good Olde Days...?

The Kids Are Alright....

The poster-child for stressing-out

The pot-smoker's runaround

The Singles Maven

The smallest Air Force base in the world

The Walkman at tech school

The worst Prom date EVER

Where are the laffs?

Wine, Women & Songs

TAD's fave rock&roll novels

Bruce Sterling: ZEITGEIST

Gael Baudino: GOSSAMER AXE

George R.R. Martin: THE ARMAGEDDON RAG

Jesse Sublett: ROCK CRITIC MURDERS

Lewis Shiner: GLIMPSES

Lewis Shiner: SAY GOODBYE

Nick Hornby: HIGH FIDELITY

Nick Hornby: JULIET NAKED

Roddy Doyle: THE COMMITMENTS

Tony Parsons: STORIES WE COULD TELL

Good Rock&Roll Short Stories

Alistair Reynolds: "At Budokan"

Edward Bryant: "Stone"

Gardner Dozois, Jack Dann and Michael Swanwick: "Touring"

Graham Masterton: "Voodoo Child"

Gregory Benford: "Doing Lennon"

Gregory Nicoll: "Dead Air"

John M. Ford: "Preflash"

Lewis Shiner: "Jeff Beck"

Lucius Shepard: "A Little Night Music"

Michael Swanwick: "The Feast of Saint Janis"

Norman Spinrad: "The Big Flash"

Robert Silverberg: "All the Way Up, All the Way Down"

William Gibson: "The Winter Market"

Favorite Novels Ever

Frank Herbert: DUNE

Frederik Pohl: GATEWAY

Gael Baudino: GOSSAMER AXE

George R.R. Martin: DYING OF THE LIGHT

John Brunner: STAND ON ZANZIBAR

Kathe Koja: SKIN

Kathe Koja: THE CIPHER

Lewis Shiner: GLIMPSES

Nick Hornby: JULIET NAKED

Ray Bradbury: THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES

Robert A. Heinlein: THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS

Robert Silverberg: DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH

Robert Silverberg: DYING INSIDE

Robert Silverberg: THE BOOK OF SKULLS

Samuel R. Delany: EMPIRE STAR

Samuel R. Delany: THE EINSTEIN INTERSECTION

Favorite Albums of All Time (this week....)

Bangles: DIFFERENT LIGHT

Beach Boys: PET SOUNDS

Beach Boys: SMiLE SESSIONS

Beatles: ABBEY ROAD

Caravan: FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT

Go-Go's: TALK SHOW

Group 87: (1ST)

Gryphon: RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE

Gryphon: TREASON

Happy the Man: CRAFTY HANDS

Illusion: OUT OF THE MIST

King Crimson: THE GREAT DECEIVER/LIVE 1973-1974

King Crimson: THE YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO...

Moody Blues: THE PRESENT

Nick Drake: BRYTER LAYTER

Pretenders: (1ST)

Providence: EVER SENSE THE DAWN

Renaissance: LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL

Sky: SKY2

The Who: WHO'S NEXT

Yes: YESSONGS

You can say what you want....

"Nothing but the best, and later for the garbage." -- CHUCK BERRY

"I want the frighteningly original ALL the time." -- FRANK ZAPPA

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture -- it's a really stupid thing to want to do." -- ELVIS COSTELLO

"If I have to choose between getting something done and just laying around, I'll choose laying around every time." -- ERIC CLAPTON

About this Blog....

This blog is a chance for me to rave about Strange Music, off-the-wall (usually music-related) books, current events, or whatever works me up enough to write about. This stuff is compulsive for me, so you never know what might appear here. Or what might send me into another of my ongoing Nostalgia Trips....

Bio stuff....

58. Former newspaper reporter & editor (20 years), frustrated fiction writer. 3 years of work in a record store -- a lifetime of listening. Been reviewing music, books & movies for newspapers since 1987. 2 children, both grown up. Spent last 13 years working in a convenience store/gas station in western Washington, USA.